Intermediate Test Prep ELA 8 (Grades7-8) Literary Devices

The colon is a stronger mark of punctuation than either the comma or the semi-colon, but not as strong as an end mark like the period, the question mark, or the exclamation point.

The colon (:) has three main uses:

1. To introduce a list of words or phrases following a complete sentence

You must do the following to take care of a dog: make sure that it has plenty of water and food, take it for walks, and give it lots of attention.
Jennifer's parents thought about several names before settling on Jennifer: Courtney, Corinne, and Megan.
I have several favorite breakfast foods: pancakes, eggs, and waffles.
Roberto learned about art in several ways: by going to museums, by taking painting lessons, and by reading art books.

2. To express the time

I eat lunch at 12:30 pm every day.
School gets out at 2:46 pm.
My train leaves at 9:15 am for Philadelphia.

Some complicated sentences mix several marks of punctuation. They use a colon to separate a sentence from a list of examples, semi-colons to separate items that already contain commas, and commas to separate words, ideas, and the day from the year in a date.

	The results of the election for class officers was as follows: Ann Martin, president; Jake Walker, vice-president; Lindsey Wagner, secretary; and Sam Sugarman, treasurer.
	I have several favorite European cities: Vienna, Austria; London, England; and Berlin, Germany.
	All three of my brothers have birthdays in the spring: Matt on May 18, 1990; Tom on April 3, 1992; and Joe on June 23, 1995.

3. After the greeting in a business letter

Dear Sir:
Dear Mr. Robinson:
Dear Sir or Madam:

Remember that colons have three very specific uses:

1. to separate a complete sentence from a list of examples
2. to separate the hour from the minutes in an expression of time
3. after the greeting of a business letter

Let's practice using the colon!

Click on the Chalk board to go to
the practice on using colons!